Wednesday, July 14, 2010

A comedy called Tere Bin Laden (Without You Laden), about a lookalike of Osama Bin Laden, is generating a lot of curiosity among cinema-goers in India and Pakistan. The film to be released on 16 July, is about a struggling Pakistani journalist, a role played by Pakistani Artist Ali Zafar, who tries to sell an interview of a "fake" Bin Laden as a scoop.

Director of Tere Bin Laden Abhishek Sharma says that the inspiration of "this bizarre film" struck him in "an equally bizarre way". "One day I had a throbbing headache on my way back from home. So I tied a scarf around my head. "When I reached home, my wife said I looked like Osama Bin Laden since I also have a beard. It was her remark that got me thinking."
He said that while researching he found fake interviews of Osama: "So I worked the story backwards." The film's protagonist is a Karachi-based Pakistani journalist who wants to move to the US to fulfil his American dream, a case which is rare these days due to growing Anti-Americanism in Pakistan.

Actress Sugandha Garg plays the love interest of "fake Osama" When he comes across a person who looks like Osama, he decides to sell his interview as a scoop to the international media, which results in a series of goof-ups.

Though the film is a comedy, the director says they have been careful about the authenticity of locations in Karachi, facts about Osama Bin Laden and the context of the story. "It is a farce but rooted in real issues," says Mr Sharma who wrote nearly 10 drafts before finalising the script. The film took four years to make and has been made on a moderate budget of $2m (£1.32m).